First On The Ground, Information To The Core

Posted on Tue Jan 31st, 2023 @ 11:01am by Lieutenant Alisha Reno

2,091 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Insurrection

Alisha had been ready from the moment the ship had made orbit, waiting in one of the least-used transporter rooms with a lowly Third-class Petty Officer. She wore civilian clothes that were on the upper edge of destitute, what someone who had almost nothing left to lose would wear, but that was what she'd intended to appear like. Her normal blonde hair had been replaced by a wavy reddish hue and freckles spattered her face. The only thing that remained that even looked remotely like her were her eyes, still the same cornflower blue that she'd been born with. The transporter operator gave her a wan smile, "Good luck, Lieutenant." He said lightly, "Stay safe."

Alisha smiled back as she stepped onto the transporter pad, "Thanks, I'll try. You've got the target building figured out?"

"Hotel, an empty room on the third floor. You should be able to egress with minimal fuss. Cover identity?" He asked.

"Intact, already checked into that hotel remotely. I'm just a girl from one of the border systems with the Klingons." Her voice's accent changed to one that was very flat and tight. "I'll be fine." She reluctantly removed her commbadge and tossed it to him, "All right, send me down."

It was a few seconds later that she took her first breath of Earth's air in... Well, not overly long. But this time it was different, this time she didn't have anything that could serve as a weapon on her, nothing to betray her origin as being of Starfleet. She set her mind to the cover story she'd developed on the way here. She was Marina Steryi from the planet Corvelli, a farmer that had used most of her remaining resources to come to Earth to try to find justice for her world. Corvelli had been one of the worlds that had been raided relatively recently by some Klingon clan that had its oats up.

As Marina stepped out of the hotel lobby and into the sunshine of Earth's Sun, she propped her hands on her hips like a native Corvellian, because this star wasn't as bright and heavy as the one on her 'homeworld' and didn't deserve to be shielded from her eyes. She began to walk towards where the Captain's speech was going to be made, swinging her arms wide as the farmers were wont to do there as well. As she grew closer, the noise grew as well, with "Federation First!" signs and more and more people watching everyone around as if gauging the mood of everyone around.

She stopped briefly to chat with some of them, first asking for directions to Starfleet Headquarters, though she knew already, then answering some questions about her accent, then as for why she had come in, all with seemingly different people. As she talked to more and more people, Marina became more and more frustrated about the state of the Federation, but never once said anything about it that would indicate dissatisfaction with it as a whole, just the general direction that it was going.

"I don't get why Starfleet didn't respond faster, with more ships!" She said with an exasperated voice to one person standing outside a door with spray-painted windows, preventing anyone from seeing inside, "It took them two weeks from when we were finally able to send a subspace message out before they sent ONE ship. This was after a half-dozen birds of prey wiped out our comms and slaughtered two freighters in orbit. They sent attackers to the ground and began killing anyone who fought back. I was out with one of the herds, trying to keep it from being found when they hit the homestead. My brother and mother were killed, my father was hurt bad but he survived, barely."

"My apologies for your losses." A voice from behind her, where the door to the spray painted building, "It's one of the failings of Starfleet and the government right now. The fleet is too scattered, too unfocused."

Marina turned her head and beheld the man, a source of calm in the roiling background. She caught a glimpse of frenetic activity inside the door right before it shut, "They shouldn't be out explorin' the unknown, not when we're gettin' killed here!" She emphasized her flat-toned words with a finger jab to the ground having been riled up, "I say Starfleet has a mandate to protect the Federation FIRST, not just when it's core-worlds are threatened." She'd been allowing herself to ramp up gradually throughout the last couple hours, hoping to get to this point.

With a wave towards the sky, Marina's red hair shivered, "There's a whole fleet up there, protecting Earth, I know, I saw them when my shuttle from the liner passed them. Why? Because Earth's more important than Corvelli? Okay, sure, more people, more... Stuff here. But they don't need all of them here. If a group of them had been in the sector, those Klingon rat-bastards would never have attacked us, because the Fleet would have hammered them back."

"You're right, young miss, and that's what a lot of us are here about." He waved a general arm towards the gathering crowd, "Not about Corvelli in particular, but about the priorities of the Federation government in general. If we're going to explore, that's fine, but the security of the Federation must be out first priority."

"Exactly!" Marina gasped, "Not just the core worlds, but all the worlds in the Federation. Once we can keep our own planets safe, then we can find new ones!" She looked down as if trying to remember something, "What was that one Admiral's name? Miki-yama or something like that? We got an article about some disgraced flag officer and all who just wanted to keep everyone safe and that's why he was kicked out of the Fleet. And then they went to hunt down the one ship that was actually fighting FOR us. I don't know what's happened with that yet, haven't heard nothing."

"Miyahara, Admiral Tanaka Miyahara was sacrificed by Starfleet to placate the Romulans. He was one of the only flag officers who was willing to do what was necessary and there are very few Captains out there willing to do the same. Many are just sitting back and waiting, wanting to do the right thing. And we are here to make OUR voices heard, to MAKE them realize that we can't just sit back and allow ourselves to respond to an attack on our people. We need to be proactive about defending our own." He seemed to be rehearsing part of a speech, then changed his tone slightly, "Nikko was the ship you were asking about, Captain Seiji Iwaki in command. He was punishing Klingon shipping in order to keep our own products moving. He was ambushed by Starfleet and is on his way back here for his own court martial. That's one of the things we're here to protest."

"A bona fide hero..." Marina mused aloud but softly, "Our own people, you say?" She shook her head, "If only we had our colony defended by someone like him.. Someone who put the Federation FIRST." The door behind this man opened again and her eyes danced towards the motion, but PAST the motion for a pair of heartbeats before her eyes flicked back to him as if she'd not seen anything, but she had. "I came to see what the Fleet could do for Corvelli, my home is gone, I sent the herds to a neighbor, so what can I do to help?" That glimpse had burned a picture into her memory and she knew she was going to have to get the word out somehow. There were weapons there, some phasers, yes, but also some others that wouldn't be visible to sensors: Slugthrowers and even some sniper weapons. Body-armored figures as well, almost as if it were a real assault team.

His eyes glowed with eagerness and as his eyes met hers, her stomach dropped, but she hesitantly brought a smile to her face as his grew, "What are you willing to do? We've gotten into the Fleet Headquarters, but they've gotten the upper hand, shooting us! We were peaceful until THEY started shooting at us, so of course we're fighting back! But to get back in, we can't just restart the shooting. We need them to realize that the people want this! I'm not going to say it doesn't have it's risks, because you know how gun-happy they are when it's their own hides on the line, but if they see ordinary people from all over the Federation all clamoring for the same thing, willing to risk everything to show how they feel, they'll have no choice but to listen!"

Alisha felt a chill run down her spine as she listened to his lies, recognizing them for what it was, but allowed her eyes to widen in surprise and then eagerness, her smile becoming more manic, "I'll do it!" She said excitedly, "They have to know! Corvelli can't be forgotten, they can reinstate the officers that did the right thing and, and, and take the fight to the invaders!" The entire time, her accent remained as flat as the plains on the world of her 'birth', "Then we can be truly safe! No one would dare to attack a STRONG Federation, one that can protect itself!" Marina bounced on the balls of her feet, eager to do her part.

He reached out and squeezed Marina's shoulder and gestured towards another group milling about, "Go see Jared over there and he'll get you set up with a sign and everything. We're going to put our front-line people into something with more protection under those clothes. Don't want them hurting you and we need them to recognize you're from one of the outer colonies." He turned her and shoved her gently towards the group, raising one unseen to signal another man with dark hair, who immediately brightened and waved over to the newcomer, "That's him, go on, love, and do the Federation proud!"

*******************
An hour later
*******************

Marina Steryi surged forward with the rest of the crowd as they marched towards the security forces at the front of the chamber and through the false look on her face, she recognized several of the faces across from her. This was where the crew of Myogi had come down to and she was suddenly glad that she was wearing the light body armor underneath her clothing, despite how it itched. Ever since she'd joined this mob, because that's what it was behind her truly, a mob, she'd been watched. Not that they didn't trust her, but there were simply too many people, too many eyes. That and a lack of a comm unit meant that she couldn't get her intelligence across to the others. That they were in danger.

Hoisting her sign that all but shouted 'Federation First! Starfleet For The Federation!', next to ''Baby-killers' written in red paint that dripped like blood, she advanced several more feet and there was a line of riot shielding between her and her friends, but her voice was raised loudly as she shouted the slogans that the rest had been taught. As she waved her sign, others around her were dismantling the static shielding efficiently and rapidly, creating gaps in the barrier and the crowd surged forward again, Marina at the forefront.

She brought her sign down in an ineffective bash that hit the ground instead of the riot-shielded front line and broke the staff, dropping it to the ground and allowing it to be trampled as she failed to grapple with a shield, instead trying to worm herself between them. She got partway through as the shouting crowd jostled them out of the way and her eyes met several officers', including the one she really was seeking out. Her eyes met with Jane's as she made her voice sound as angry as possible, "For Corvelli! Starfleet For The Federation!"

Her lip twitched once as several phasers pointed her way, then most moved away and she struggled forward another few inches, "Shoot me!" She screamed as if daring these fascist Starfleet officers to do it, "Come on murderers, shoot me! I dare you!" Over the roar of the crowd surging forward even more, she heard something, then there was a flash from in front of her, and the world went black.

End:

Mission Post By:
Lieutenant(jg) Alisha Reno
Chief Intelligence Officer, USS Myogi

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